Eminem Bellahouston Park Glasgow August 20th 2013
Laura and I are going to see Eminem at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow. Laura is really excited, and I am sort of looking forward to it, but I’m a little nervous about it. Will I be the oldest there?
DF Concerts boss Geoff Ellis said, “We’re delighted to announce Eminem as the first major act for Glasgow Summer Sessions. His performance at T in the Park and his previous stadium show at Hampden were spectacular, so this gig will be one of the events of the year”
I’ll report back as soon as I am able (ie after I have woken up, as I’ll be back late; its a long drive from Glasgow!).
Update: Just got up; we got home just before 2am. Well it was a strange night and yes I think I was definitely the oldest there. Laura declared it “amazing”. Eminem took to the stage around 9pm appearing from behind a white curtain, to a massive roar from the crowd. He then proceeded to play loads of songs from his back catalogue, doing shortened versions, usually one verse and the chorus, of many of his songs. Fraid I am not familiar with much of his stuff, but I did really enjoy the show. The park was absolutely packed, and many of the crowd were a little worse for wear to say the least. I’ve never seen so many mobile phones raised, so many arms waving and so many people up on the shoulders of others. The rain was pouring down, but that didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm. I recognised the well known songs: Slim Shady, Stan and encore Lose Yourself. Eminem was flanked by his MC who did a lot of talking to the crowd, and fat to the back of the stage, up on platform, hid the backing band, the guitarists making their way down a couple of ramps to the front of the stage to take solos. The light show was amazing. It was just a great show, and I finally understood what this guy is all about, and why he remains so massive.
But there was also a heavy and menacing atmosphere about some parts of the crowd. Although the vast majority of the fans were just having a good time, a small number were clearly on the edge and looking for trouble. We saw a pretty nasty fight on the way out. And as we drove out of the car park a very drunk girl jumped into our car. Laura and I managed to persuade her to get out, but then a drunken guy opened the door and tried to jump in. I talked to him and managed to push him out and tried to close the door, but then he pushed his foot into the car and started to kick me, hitting me on the shoulder. A few people pulled him out. It was over in a minute or so and there was no damage done, but I’m afraid it soured the evening for us. We drove off and got home safely. I’m sure that it was just a one off and we were unlucky. In fact the majority of the fans we saw seemed in good spirits and just having a good time, but the incident shook us up, and it’ll take me a few days to get over it.
Setlist: Survival; Won’t Back Down; 3 a.m.; Square Dance; Business; Kill You; White America; Mosh; No Love; Just Don’t Give a Fuck; Criminal; Cleanin’ Out My Closet; The Way I Am; Fast Lane; Lighters; Airplanes, Part II; Stan; Sing for the Moment; Like Toy Soldiers; Forever; ‘Till I Collapse; Cinderella Man; Love the Way You Lie; My Name Is; The Real Slim Shady; Without Me; Not Afraid. Encore: Lose Yourself
21 Aug
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